You might try Rick Steves, but I doubt you’ll find much that’s cheaper than Contiki.  Why don’t you try this on your own?????

Why would you want to go to Eastern Europe with all of the horror there? 

I want to go to Eastern Europe because I have already seen a lot of Western Europe. I was travelling around Europe last year and a lot of travellers said Eastern Europe was great, not as crowded or as expensive and you can really immerse yourself in the culture.
 
Contiki seems expensive because when I was in Europe last time (in 07), I was living on about 45 Euro a day, and with contiki it works out to be about 70 euro a day, plus food fund and dinner usually…
 
Anyway, thanks for the replies

I think rob_co was pulling your chain….  I generally prefer Eastern Europe to Western Europe — friendlier, more interesting from a sightseeing standpoint, cheaper, IMO.  While there are places that may be a little dicey for safety you can certainly tour much of Eastern Europe on your own.  

So what do you find so shocking and horrid that you cant go it alone?
Prague, Budapest, Krakow, Bratislava, these cities are all quite similar to being in western europe, just a little more rustic.  The Baltics are clean and safe.  Romania is easy to get around, mind a few stray dogs and gypsies.  You may want to avoid Serbia and Kosovo just to be safe, Ukraine can be a tough language barrier, and Belarus, well ok that is kinda scary. 
 
And have you ever been on a contiki tour, or any tour for that matter?  If you have truely experienced independant travel, then a tour seems like shock and horror to me. 

I said shock horror, because when I tell people that I’m female and going around eastern europe by myself, everyone is shocked and tells me it’s too unsafe, but I think it will be fine.
 
I travelled around Western Europe with a friend last year for two months and loved it. We didn’t go on any tours, we just did it independently, but this time I am going by myself, so I thought a tour would be good to meet people to travel with later on in my trip.
 
And thanks for the advice on those countries rob_co, it’s very helpful

Have any of these people that tell you this been to EE?  I just love it when people talk about the dangers of other countries, yet they’ve never left their own country. 
 
I would say the one downside to traveling EE solo, is the long, lonely train rides.  Trains go a lot slower, a lot of cities are 5-8 hours train ride apart.  But I find its a lot easier to meet other travelers and make friends there, especially if you are staying in hostels.
 
Any ideas on where you want to go specifically?

I’ve heard a lot of people lament the dangers of my solo Eastern Europe travels this summer, and I’m a guy…so I can imagine where you’re coming from.  From people who legitimately know what the situation is like over there, it seems Belgrade is a place to avoid for the time being, and since the rest of northern Serbia isn’t terribly much to write home about, maybe avoid that area in general.  Bosnia you’d probably be fine…Kosovo certainly…Albania might roll out the red carpet for an American.  Basically, no northern Serbia.  The rest is gravy, and considering the Belgrade riots the other month, tourists will probably avoid the “conflict zone” for a 1000-mile buffer, leaving the Balkans ripe for travelers who want a deeper experience.

You think right. As a life-long inhabitant of Central Europe (or Eastern Europe, as you wish – simply a post-communist country in the centre of Europe) I may assure you that these people are wrong and you are right If you follow simple safety measures, such as 1) using beds, not seats on overnight trains 2) protecting yourself against pickpockets when in crowd by observing and/or holding firmly your property and 3) not going into lowest-grade pubs with sweaty manual workers drinking inside, you’re not going to have any trouble at all.

All of this applies to the countries that are post-communist, but today are a part of European Union (plus Croatia). If by East Europe you mean Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Kosovo etc., it might be a little more complicated there. Haven’t tried it myself yet

I agree on the very high price:

12 days in Eastern Europe for $1600? Give me a break.

http://contiki.com/t…

If you’re looking to go cheap, I recommend doing it on your own, then again you’re alone and a girl…

Any tour is going to be more expensive than travelling solo; they do have to make a profit.
 
Intrepid is an Australian company that offer tours in CE and EE. Their tour guide standard is much higher than Contiki or Top Deck, and they go for small groups – max 12. To me the success of any tour depends on your fellow travellers and then your guide -I’ve been on tours I really enjoyed despite having a retarded oaf as a guide because of the quality of the group, but a great guide has given me experiences that I never would have got with solo travel. That isn’t to say that solo travel won’t give you experiences you will never get with a group.
 
I’ve done tour tours with all three companies I’ve mentioned, though not necessarily in Europe. Discounting the fact that I’m now over 35, Intrepid is the only one I’d consider using again.

this thread is LOL

so many EE experts… it makes my eyes bleed.


ANY AND ALL post commie country has the populace in fear. in EE they do not touch foreign people unless they are black and/or chinese (non aryan) .

but even if you were it would take ALLOT to piss off a local and get ur self in sh*t.

just so you know i have friends who came from Siberia and said USA is like a farm, too many poor people and 2 little culture here.

i say go for it! go ANYWHERE you want!  they won’t touch you i can even bet on it.

you would most likely get capped on the streets of america then you would get robbed or assaulted in EE.
Ukraine is wonderfull place go try the crimea, L’viv and do avoid Kiev(its hell)

Moscow is not for the typical westerner (too costly,even for the locals) try a lower city like Novgorod, avoid Bisk(in siberia,its a boooooze town-only hardcore ppl go there).

 anyway the worst you can do is when you go to a Little Russia you need to remember that they are not Russian(they get ippy when u ask them if they are Russian – inferiority complex or just massively brainwashed anti Russ) so try to suck up to them and tell them how much better they are then evil Russians.


well that was my LOL input conclusion: they ignore foreign peoples, cheap , great food and great culture.

I can give you some advice about interesting places in Poland.
 
Regards,
K.